Progress Party (Australia)

The Progress Party, initially known as the Workers Party, was a minor political party in Australia in the mid-to-late 1970s. It was formed on 26 January (Australia Day) 1975 as a free-market right-libertarian and anti-socialist party by businessmen John Singleton and Sinclair Hill in reaction to the economic policies of Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam.[1] It operated and ran candidates in Western Australia, Northern Territory, South Australia, Queensland and New South Wales, but it did not have a central federal structure and its Western Australian affiliate which additionally advocated secession from the rest of Australia,[2][3] did particularly well in the area surrounding Geraldton in the state's Mid West. However, the party failed to win seats at any level of government and passed out of existence by 1981.

The party's first electoral contest was the Greenough state by-election which took place upon the retirement from politics of former Premier David Brand. The candidate, Geoffrey McNeil, surprised most observers by attaining 12.96% of valid votes cast (only 0.66% less than the Labor candidate).[4][5] Buoyed by their success, the Workers' Party ran three House and five Senate candidates at the 1975 federal election for Western Australia.[6] Subsequently to this, the New South Wales party ran for 1976 by-elections in the seats of Pittwater and The Hills.[7]

The party was renamed the Progress Party after objections to the name and constitution and the Westralian Progress Party published its platform in 1977 ahead of the February state election, where it contested the seats of Greenough (16.81%), Geraldton (5.12%), Kalgoorlie (6.43%), Mundaring (3.95%) and Yilgarn-Dundas (3.63%). At the August 1977 Northern Territory assembly elections, the party picked up a territory-wide vote of 9.76%.

On 13 October 1977, sitting Liberal MP Peter Richardson announced that he had defected to the Progress Party and would be its lead Senate candidate in Western Australia at the 1977 federal election.[8][9] Another former Liberal MP Wylie Gibbs also joined the party, but he did not run for office.[10] At the federal election, the Progress Party contested every Western Australian seat in the House of Representatives. However, the party only managed to collect 2.83% of the state vote. Richardson was unsuccessful in his bid for the Senate as the party polled just over 10,000 votes or 1.7 percent of the state total.[11]

The party went on to contest the 1980 state election, but with a significantly lower degree of success.[12] The party is believed to have disbanded after this time, but it was credited by academic Marian Sawer for attracting publicity for neoliberal, economic rationalist ideals.[3]